The Live-Action Film Adaptation of WICKED Loses Its Director
Universal Pictures has been developing a live-action adaptation of the hit Broadway musical Wicked with director Stephen Daldry for a while. Well, it’s being reported that Daldry has dropped out of the project, so the studio is now on the hunt for a replacement.
According to the report, the studio “wants this movie mounted more quickly than Daldry was comfortable moving.” It’s also explained that there was “a shortage of stage space in London that will make it not possible to shoot the film there, something that was important to Daldry.”
The studio is hoping to start production on the project late next year, so they have time to fill the director spot, which I’m sure won’t be hard to fill. A lot of filmmakers would jump at the opportunity to make this movie. It’s sure to be a hit due to its popularity. JJ Abrams, James Mangold, Ryan Murphy, and Rob Marshall were all at one point looking to join the project before Daldry was hired.
Songwriter Stephen Schwartz and book writer Winnie Holzman teamed up on the script, and Marc Platt, who produces the stage musical with David Stone, is producing the film.
Wicked is a Wizard of Oz prequel based on the Gregory Maguire novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, and focuses on the early relationship between Glinda the Good and Elphaba, “a green-skinned beauty before she ended up a flying hag on a broomstick.”
Source: Deadline